Bookstooge's Reviews On the Road

Wednesday, November 07, 2018

Chasm City (Revelation Space #2) ★★★★½

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Title: Chasm City
Series: Revelation Space #2
Author: Alastair Reynolds
Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 708
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis: Spoilers

Tanner Mirabel wakes up with his memories scrambled. All he really knows is that he has to track down and kill one Argent Reivich, the man who killed his boss and boss's wife. Tanner is now on Chasm City, light years from Sky's Edge and he is without allies, without money and without much information. Thankfully, his memory is slowly coming back.

Tanner gets involved in problems on Chasm City when he's kidnapped and used for a Hunt. The rich immortals living on Chasm City are bored and the Hunt is one way they alleviate such boredom. Between some unexpected allies and his own military background, Tanner turns the tables and suddenly has some allies, some money and some serious firepower. Unfortunately, while his memory is returning, other memories are also returning, the memories of Sky Haussman, the founder of Sky's Edge. Which is impossible as Sky was crucified and killed a LONG time ago. Maybe Tanner is just going insane.

Tanner tracks Reivich down to an asteroid where Reivich is undergoing a Deep Scan, one where he will destroy his body but upload his mind. During all of this more and more memories are returning and Tanner finds out that the real Tanner is hunting HIM. Tanner is Kahuella, a war criminal from Sky's Edge. There is a showdown between the two Tanners and “our” Tanner wins when he releases an unknown ability, the ability to bite with envenomed fangs and kills the original Tanner. ALL of “our” Tanner's memories come crashing back and he realizes he is Sky Haussman and that the dreams of Haussman he's been having aren't from a bio-plague but true memories.

Tanner chooses to remain as Tanner and start a security company on Chasm City and give the Hunt the set of rules we are familiar with from the previous book.

My Thoughts:

In-freaking-credible! I enjoyed this read so much that I'm not really sure what to focus on. The only downside I guess.

I didn't give this 5stars because I'm not sure how this will hold up to a re-read. 75% of the tension was not knowing what was going on with Tanner and his memories and now that I know, I don't know how that will affect future re-reads. And that is it.

This had everything I wanted in a good Science Fiction story. Aliens, sentient and otherwise, weapons of mass destruction and little weapons, a grand amount of fighting and death and carnage that really racks up the body count. It was very similar to a Polity novel but Alastair's style is so different from Neal Asher that there is NO mistaking the difference or feeling that you're retreading territory.

The Sky Haussman episodes felt very much like history lessons but there was enough intrigue going on that it didn't come across as boring info dumps. I have to admit though, most of the time info dumps don't bother me, except when they do. I still haven't figured out what the difference is though.

Alastair handles the time differentials skillfully. This book pretty much takes place at the same time as Revelation Space and so we get ties to make that book slightly fuller and here we find out information to make a re-read of RS richer.

Tanner makes for a great character. He's driven, has a great skill set, has a conscience and still isn't above killing people who are gunning for him. Following him as he remembers things was great fun. The whole memory thing was wicked weird, as the very idea was unsettling. If the mind can be so easily mucked around with, nothing is then sacred. But then, most materialists believe that the mind is just a series of synapses and electrical responses that can be transposed onto another medium “once we know enough”.

Apparently this was a novella first before it was expanded to this full length novel. So check the length of the one you're reading if you're not sure. I read the full novel and am not sure I'd want to try this as a novella.

★★★★½

Revelation Space (Book 1)

Tuesday, November 06, 2018

Right Ho, Jeeves (The Jeeves Omnibus #2.1) ★★★☆½

Title: Right Ho, Jeeves
Series: The Jeeves Omnibus #2.1
Author: P.G. Wodehouse
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Humor
Pages: 212
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Bertie comes back from the Continent with his Aunt and Cousin and things fall apart. Bertie tries to wear a white suit coat and clashes with Jeeves. Jeeves lets him have his way and solve everything on his own. So, Bertie's cousin is engaged but the couple fights and calls off the engagement. A friend of Bertie's is in love with a girl but can't work up the nerve to even talk to her. This girl is a friend of Bertie's cousin and is staying with them. Bertie is called down to the countryside to assist in giving a speech at a local boys school and hand out prizes. He avoids this by sending the love struck friend down with the promise that it will help him court the girl he loves. Bertie goes down to help restore bliss between his cousin and her fiance. He also finds out that his Aunt needs a lot of money from his Uncle to fund her vanity magazine, money which he already gave her but she lost in gambling on the Continent. Throw in Anatole the French chef who is threatening to leave and you have a problem only Jeeves can fix.

But Jeeves isn't fixing anything since Bertie WILL insist on wearing the white suit coat. Thus it falls to Bertie to solve everything. Of course, he just makes it 100 times worse. Thankfully, Jeeves relents and solves everything BUT at the cost of making everyone hate Bertie and “accidentally” leaving the iron on the white suit coat.

Hijinks, wrong engagements, one spectacular instance of public drunkenness and sundry other mishaps occur, affording the reader an escape from the humdrum of life for a couple of hours.

My Thoughts:

You know, I have mentioned this before, but it really stuck out, AGAIN. Whoever put these omnibus editions together is a complete jackass. I hate them in fact. It is almost like someone who never read the books and is not a reader at all in fact, looked at the books and just randomly pointed them out and decided which volume each book would go in. It is just frustrating as it is obvious it is lazy no good incompetence that made such decisions.

Overall, I still enjoyed this. This was another novel instead of a short story collection but so much is going on that it almost might as well be a short story collection. There were times I felt like I had already read this but given that Bertie references these escapades in other books, turns out I was just remembering the references. Another reason to kick the jackass who put these together.

I have to say, it is incredible how much Bertie can wreck things. What's even more astounding is just how dense he is when Jeeves fixes everything at his expense. Bertie pretty thinks “Oh well, at least I'm not getting married now” and is happy enough. Egads.

I think one of these books every 6 to 8 weeks is working out well. Enough time for me to forget any lingering animosity and to simply remember the stupidly funny stuff. That's good enough for me!

★★★☆½

Previous Jeeves Reviews

Friday, November 02, 2018

Saints (Monster Hunter Memoirs #3) ★★★★☆

Title: Saints
Series: Monster Hunter Memoirs #3
Author: John Ringo, Larry Correia
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 288
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Chad blows up at MCB after the experience in New Orleans. This puts him on their Super Shit List and one of the agents starts making things personal. A bad scrying shows Chad is involved with a black magic group kidnapping virgins to raise an Old One. Turns out it is Chad's brother but that makes Chad involved anyway. Chad takes down his brother and stops the ring. That's enough proof for the agent AND Agent Franks. Franks beats Chad almost to death and hospitalizes him. Chad then sues MCB and while things are in full swing heads over to England to do some reasearch at the Van Helsing Institute.

There he investigates why some of the occurrences are happening in New Orleans. Turns out, his brother has slightly awakened an Old One's cocoon. The Agent in charge of MCB in New Orleans has taken MCB being sued by Chad extremely personal so he does nothing when even Earl Harbinger tells him there is a baby Old One about to wake up and eat the world. That means its up to MHI to toe the line again and stand between the Earth and total destruction. MHI wins. Was there any ever doubt? Of course, they get a little help from the Fey and a High Hunt.

The books ends with Earl taking over and describing the events at the Christmas Party where Ray Shackleford IV almost destroys MHI. Turns out it is Earl and Chad who close the Portal to the Old One and Chad gives his life to allow Earl to do so.

My Thoughts:

This was a great wrapup to the trilogy. A nascent Old One growing under New Orleans? Man, how much more of a threat can you get than that? Everything leads up to that though, so the story goes from threat to threat to threat.

Everything isn't directly connected, so things feel a little discombobulated sometimes. The whole thing with his brother ends so quickly that there was no tension and besides it leading into Chad getting the snot beat out of him, was rather anti-climactic.

Chad's time in England was boring. It didn't help that the story about the ghost and the super special metal was included in the Monster Hunter Files anthology so I kind of felt cheated. Him teaching was just as boring.

The final battle was EVERYTHING I want out of a Monster Hunter International fight. Guns, bombs, flamethrowers, Holy Water, and so many monsters. So many, many monsters. Ringo and Correia did a fantastic job of making this a pulse pounding fight!

The ending, with Chad's sacrifice, was how this trilogy needed to end. Chad's story had a beginning and this was his end. For all his philandering, dickheaded braggodocio and general arrogance, Chad goes out like a hero.

Overall, this was a worthwhile read in the MHI universe, even if a little bit off from Correia's style.

★★★★☆

Wednesday, October 31, 2018

77 Shadow Street ★★★☆½

Title: 77 Shadow Street
Series: ----------
Author: Dean Koontz
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Horror/Thriller
Pages: 722
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis: Spoilers

The Pendleton. Built back in the late 1800's, it was the biggest mansion of its kind to date. Throughout the years, strange things have happened to those who lived there. Murders, kidnappings, disappearances, suicides, mental breakdowns. Now the Pendleton has been turned into a bunch of luxury condos. Now the residents are starting to see some really weird things. Now one old man who has done his research knows he must get everybody out of the building if any of them want to survive the next 24hrs.

A disparate group are brought together and through the mystery of Scyenze, are swept into the future to a world that is post-human. Post-anything in fact, except for The One. The One rules All, The One Knows All, The One IS All. Among the group is revealed the creator of The One and The One sows the seeds for its own birth, thus making sure of its own survival and the destruction of humanity.

The One hower, is NO match for 2 kids, an ex-Marine, a Honky-tonk song writer, a brilliant novelist, a blind man, 2 old ladies and their cats, a Scyenzist who swears he WON'T create The One and some others. Oh yeah, and one insane murdering hitman. The group survives and puts paid to the Scyenzist and some shadowy figure kills the other Scyenzist who could do the same.

The World is Safe. For Now.

My Thoughts:

Despite the tone of my Synopsis, I rather enjoyed this. I called this a Horror/Thriller because while it had elements of Horror, they weren't supernatural. However, when creatures shove black goop down your throat and turn you into more of them, what else do you call that? It sure isn't slapstick comedy.

Having read the Frankenstein novels and the Odd Thomas series, I can see so many ideas that Koontz uses over and over. I think that would/will be a problem if I read a bunch of Koontz back to back or even with just a month of each other. I think with the spacing I have though it should be ok.

The Good Guys Win. That knocked my rating up a half star easily. It is refreshing. Obviously not everybody makes it and there is a big enough group that no particular outcome is telegraphed in terms of survival so I never felt like any particular character was safe (except for the 2 kids, especially the autistic girl). That bit of tension is nice and made the story have a bit of “snap” to it.

I have no desire to ever re-read this book but that is pretty much how I've felt about all of Koontz's books. With the amount he's turned out though, that really isn't a problem. A solid fun read that was just scary enough for me but not really scary (which is how I like my scary books).

★★★☆½

Tuesday, October 30, 2018

Measure for Measure ★★★☆☆

Title: Measure for Measure
Series: ----------
Author: William Shakespeare
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Play, Comedy
Pages: 96
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Duke Somebody leaves his city-state in the hands of a man the Duke trusts, or so he says. His real plan is for the stand-in, Angelo, to enforce the moral laws of the land that the Duke has been ignoring. Thus the Duke will get a more moral populace without having the outrage directed against him.

Unfortunately for him, Angelo turns into a tyrant and condemns a man to death for fornication. When the doomed man's sister pleads for mercy, Angelo says he'll forego the death sentence if she'll have sex with him. The Duke, disguised as a monk, over hears everything that is going on and sets things up so that a woman Angelo spurned years ago takes the sister place. Angelo is fooled but reneges on his word. The Duke reveals himself to the jailor and comes up with a plan to save the doomed man.

The Duke sets everything in motion, then “returns” publicly. The sister and spurned woman cry for justice, Angelo says everything is all lies and then the doomed man comes forth, not dead after all. Angelo is forced to marry the spurned woman, so she has all the legal rights of a wife. The Duke then sentences Angelo to die just like Angelo sentenced the doomed brother to die.

The sister marries the Duke and everything turns out alright for everyone who is good.

My Thoughts:

There was a lot of wordplay humor here that amused me. Almost no physical comedy so that also helped. The story of a hypocrite getting his just desserts is always a good one.

That being said, I think the Duke is an ass. He supposedly knows Angelo from all the way back “when” and even knows he spurned the poor girl when her dowry fell through and yet he seems so surprised at how Angelo acts once he's in control.

The way Angelo is presented at first came across as a hard nosed, take no nonsense kind of guy. I was rooting for him in fact. Time somebody cleaned up the filth. But of course, nobody can actually be good if they want to enforce the laws, oh no! They're heartless brutes who secretly break the law themselves at every turn. Now, doesn't THAT narrative sound terribly familiar? Wouldn't surprise me if Democrats read Shakespeare as a How To instead of as a warning.

The whole thing with the Duke and the sister getting married just made me laugh. She is going to be a nun but puts her final vows on hold so she can save her brother. A couple of days later the Duke pretty much says 'Woman, marry me!” and she's all “You got it, you sexy beast”. Somehow I wonder if she would have turned into a “Naughty” nun, hahahahaa.

Overall, this was MUCH more enjoyable than the previous plays. I needed that, as reading unlikeable plays time after time was getting a bit wearisome.

★★★☆☆

Previous Shakespeare Reviews

Monday, October 29, 2018

Road Trip to Izumo (Shaman King #6) ★★★☆½ (Manga Monday)

Title: Road Trip to Izumo
Series: Shaman King #6
Author: Hiroyuki Takei
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 192
Format: Digital Copy

Synopsis:

Yoh and Faust conclude their match. Yoh tricks Faust into overextending his mana and manages to destroy Eliza's corporeal form. This sends Faust into a rage and a monologue where we find out Faust's history and that Eliza is actually his dead wife. Faust wants to become Shaman King to bring her back to life. Yoh uses up his mana to destroy Eliza and thus loses the match. Faust tries to kill Yoh even though the match is over. Yoh is saved by Ren Tao because Ren's next fight is with Yoh.

Yoh realizes he simply isn't powerful enough and so makes a trip to his hometown Izumo. There his grandfather sends him through a cave for a 7day journey in full sensory deprivation.

At the same time it is revealed that Monta is the heir to Japan's largest Electronics company and his getting almost killed doesn't sit real well with his family. His dad tries to bundle him to America but Monta decides last minute to not get on the plane and to go to Izumo He has the company of Wooden Sword Ryu who has decided that he wants Yoh's grandfather to train him as a Shaman. They run into a young girl who is in training who can read the future through her spirit guides Conchi and Ponchi. C&P are dirty minded little tricksters who simply are bored. Anna shows up and takes control and straightens everything out.

Yoh comes forth from the cave much stronger but now has to finish his training with his Grandfather.

The book ends with Ren Tao talking about his family and how he wishes they all were dead.

My Thoughts:

I have a presentiment that most of the future “reviews” of Shaman King will consist more of the synopsis than anything else. That's one of the pitfalls of a fighting shonen manga. The battles themselves become more important than the storyline. This hasn't reached that level yet but the training, powering up, etc has begun in earnest and new tricks will be revealed in each book. It is expected now and thus plot will be taking a second seat.

The background of Monta was really odd, as him being a Magnates heir just doesn't seem to fit him. Of course, him being just 12 somewhat mitigates that. Considering the Oyamada's feelings about Yoh I suspect some drama will ensue in later books. OR they'll just disappear and we'll never see them again. There is certainly enough “family” drama going on what with the Asakuras and the Tao's. Speaking of Ren Tao, his desire to be the Shaman King to end his family's cycle of death and revenge seems a bit off too, as it did with Monta. Doing what they want doesn't seem the way to oppose them. Definitely shows that he's not invested emotionally in his family's vendetta against “whomever”.

The little cartoon spirits of Conchi and Ponchi definitely reminded me of Ren & Stimpy. While I never watched that particular cartoon, my friends all did and I heard more than enough and saw more than enough. Their pairing with the shy and reserved Tamao, the future reader, is genius on the manga-ka's part, as they don't actually have to be that bad to look bad since they're being compared to Tamao. She can barely talk she's so shy. The manga-ka definitely is jumping around with his characters to find the right “comedic” character so we'll see if these 2 make a splash or not.

I think next month I won't be doing a volume every week. It was ok this month but honestly, it's a bit much to keep it up. Well, I say that as I'm recovering from being sick so maybe when I'm healthy I'll feel full of vim and vigor and say “Piss & Vinegar! Give me that manga!” I doubt it though.

★★★☆½

Friday, October 26, 2018

Sweet Silver Blues (Garrett, P.I.) ★★★☆½

Title: Sweet Silver Blues
Series: Garrett, P.I.
Author: Glen Cook
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 320
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Garrett, a Private Investigator, is hired by the Patriarch of some cobbler elves to carry out his sons last wishes. It doesn't hurt that the son and Garrett both served in Cantard and survived their army stint in that region. The father reveals that his son was getting rich in speculating on silver prices, with help from a woman in the Cantard who is probably on the enemies side. This same woman is one that Garrett fell in love with back in the day. So to help out an old dead buddy and maybe see the love of his youth, Garrett agrees to go into the Cantard and get the woman back to TunFaire where she will inherit a small fortune.

Unfortunately, the dead brother has a sister named Rose and Rose wants all that money for herself. She tries to hire Garrett, seduce Garrett, threaten and assault Garrett and eventually she is forced to team up with Garrett. Garrett also hires the help of various people to go on this trip with him.

Turns out the Lady is a vampire now. Garrett and Co kill the Bloodmaster, escape with the Lady and another vampire Garrett's coworker wants for reasons of his own and make it back to TunFaire. The Lady is welcomed by the cobblers as an unofficial inlaw and given the best treatment to reverse the vampirism. Morly, Garrett's coworker uses his vampire to destroy the local crimelord who has been making threats against Morly.

Everyone is relatively happy and everybody gets paid. Garrett also hooks up with Rose's cousin so the detective fulfills the mission AND gets the girl. Not bad.

My Thoughts:

Nothing brilliant with this book but it was the most fun I've had so far this month besides with Shaman King. Light hearted rompy fun.

Cook is obviously riffing on the Hardboiled Noir Detective thing and if I was better versed in that genre I might be able to appreciate this even more. As it is, a hard drinking, hard headed, hard fisted detective living in an Urban Fantasyland works really well. I guess this isn't strictly Urban Fantasy, as it isn't our world at all, but it has all the earmarks of a mixed group of humans and supernatural and a city and the goings ons that happen in cities. (the stinking, filthy, cowflop places).

Cook still yanks his readers around with making his characters know things that aren't revealed to us and having “things happen” very suddenly with almost no warning. I know I missed particulars but I just sat back and let the story roll, even if I didn't perhaps catch all the whys & wherefores. Cook has a style that while not exactly the same, is similar enough so an astute reader can pick up on it from his Black Company books or his Dread Empire series.

I have zero interest in straight up detective fiction. Not mysteries, but Detective Fiction. However, throw in some paranormal stuff and bam, it really works for me. And Garrett is no whiny, crybaby, “poor me, the Council doesn't like me” miserable sodding jackass like some other character I can think of whose name rhymes with Harry Dresden. I can't say that if you hate Dresden you'll like Garrett, but if Dresden made you give up on Urban Fantasy, Garrett might be able to punch you in the head until you admit you really DO like Urban Fantasy now, honest sir!

As long as no pedophile wizard shows up to ruin the series like Cook did with his last Dread Empire book, I suspect I'll be glad to work my through the 15+ books in this series.

★★★☆½

Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Fail Harder (Caverns & Creatures #2) ★☆☆☆½

Title: Fail Harder
Series: Caverns & Creatures #2
Author: Robert Bevan
Rating: 1.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 305
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

The Gang of merry losers runs into some other humans who have been sent to this fantasy world by Mordred. They team up with them and learn of yet another group, of middle graders, who were Mordred's favorites and are sure to run rampant once they learn of his demise.

Katherine, Tim's sister, is kidnapped by a vampire who has also been brought here by Mordred. He turns her before the group can rescue her but they do rescue her and kill the vamp. With the loot and stuff they raid from the dead vamp's castle, they pay a dodgy magician to get Tim back to the real world so he can find Mordred's dice and figure out how to get everyone back.

Tim makes it back, but still in his halfing body and finds Mordred still alive in the freezer. The dodgy magician, having a glimpse of our world through Tim's mind, decides he wants to check things out and brings the whole Gang back with him.

My Thoughts:

You know, I barely even noticed the profanity this time around. However, the reason I didn't was because of the crass humor and the complete stupidity of just about ALL the characters involved.

This group of people who got sucked into the fantasy world? They deserve to die. In fact, the United States is a better place if these people really did die. The fact that scum like them get their vote to count as much as mine, it infuriates me.

Yeah, I was pretty pissed off for almost the whole book. That is how pathetic these people were. So I'm done. I knew I was going to be done with this book one way or another, but my goodness, the amount of idiocy the characters packed into a mere 300 pages was astounding.

Don't get me wrong, this has nothing to do with them being hardcore gamers. I can sit around and play Magic the Gathering for hours on end. But I'm not an idiot who just does whatever he feels like whenever he feels like. I realize I haven't pointed out specifics for you to judge for yourselves. But just think of someone you know who does what they want, when they want, regardless of consequences and you have this group. I've been using the term “stupid” but it is more along the lines of irresponsible in the worst way.

I still would like to thank Swords & Spectres for his very enthusiastic take on this series. For some non-frothing at the mouth reviews, check out his reviews. Maybe he can convince you to read them.

★☆☆☆½

Critical Failures (Book 1)

Tuesday, October 23, 2018

Cover Her Face (Adam Dalgliesh #1) ★★☆☆½

Title: Cover Her Face
Series: Adam Dalgliesh #1
Author: P.D. James
Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 256
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

A young woman has been taken on as a part time servant at the Maxie resident. Said young woman causes as many small problems as she can and ends up being choked to death one night.

Detective Dalgliesh is assigned to the case and begins to uncover the web of sins connecting the household. The true story is told, the murderess confesses and life continues for those left behind.

Not a cozy mystery but more of a bottom feeding, slime pit mystery.

My Thoughts:

In my review of the Mistletoe Murder, I used the word “sordid”. I was afraid of getting more of that here. Thankfully, that was not the case. However, what I did get wasn't much better.

I am not a fan of series where the titular character is barely there or plays almost no part in the story. Miss Marple springs to mind. I gave up on those mysteries when she stopped being the central “character”. Adam Dalgliesh was almost invisible in this story. In fact, the last 10 pages or so gave him more character than the whole of the book before those 10 pages. I felt like he was a hat rack for James to hang her literary hat upon. He was featureless, bland, plodding and was not a “character”.

I am also not a fan of unlikeable characters. From the murdered woman all the way up to the Matron of the House, there wasn't a likeable person among them. The Matron's two adult children were petty, self-centered bitter people. The two houseguests were delusional on one hand and quick to enjoy the suffering of others on the other. The dead girl's uncle stole her small inheritance. The dead girl pretends to be a single mother so she can get all sorts of free stuff and then claims that the Matron's son asked her to marry him. He doesn't deny it even though he didn't. And through it all, the dead girl was married almost 2 years ago and is expecting her secret husband back any time. She says what she says and does what she does just to cause chaos and turmoil and pain.

Now how am I supposed to enjoy reading about a group of people like that?

I don't read books to experience the worst of humanity. I know it exists and it is real but my books are for me to escape, to aim for something higher. This gave me none of that.

I think I am done with James. Her desire to drag her readers through the mud and slimepits of her characters isn't compatible with my desire to be actually entertained while I read. Her writing ability may be great, but it is wasted as far as I'm concerned, being used that way.

★★☆☆½

Monday, October 22, 2018

The Abominable Dr. Faust (Shaman King #5) ★★★☆½ (Manga Monday)

Title: The Abominable Dr. Faust
Series: Shaman King #5
Author: Hiroyuki Takei
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 200
Format: Digital Copy

Synopsis:

Yoh and Horohoro conclude their match as Horohoro buries Yoh in an avalanche. Only to have Yoh burst forth and pretty much K-O Horohoro. The Gang all celebrates Yoh's win and Horohoro is part of the celebration. Ryu suddenly wants to be a shaman so he can have a cute spirit companion like Horohoro has. The reader is also introduced to Horohor's trainer, his younger sister Pirka, who is just as unreasonable as Anna.

Yoh finds out his next fight will be in a graveyard. Silva learns from Kalim (both of whom are Patch Officiants) that Yoh's next opponent is a psychopath who murdered at least one other contestant, if not more already. For whatever reason this did not disqualify said contestant.

Manta and Yo meet the contestant, a German doctor by the name of Dr Faust the VIII, a direct descendant of the original Faust, who was also in the last Shaman Fight but lost. Faust can raise the dead and is interested in all things medical. He kidnaps Manta and cuts him wide open in front of Yoh but the Shaman Fight starts before he finishes whatever he is doing.

Faust sends legions of reassembling skeletons against Yoh and forces him to use up most of his mana. Faust then reveals his own oversoul, named Eliza who takes on the form of a Nurse who proceeds to slice and dice Yoh. Silva arrives at the battle and tries to convince Yoh to concede to save his own life. Anna also shows up and tells Silva such questions are pointless as Yoh will never concede.

The book ends with the showdown between a barely alive Yoh and Eliza coming to its conclusion.

My Thoughts:

If you've read any kind of shonen manga before, this will be a walk down familiar territory. Happy go lucky opponents become good friends. A dastardly evil to be faced. A companion who is the weak link. The plucky hero who is full of grit and determination to save his friend and fulfill his dream. This volume has it in spades.

There is a LOT of exposition going in during the battle with both Horohoro and Faust. Faust is almost a bloody blabbermouth, as he isn't physically fighting while controlling the skeletons. He gives a lot of information to the readers and it would be tiresome if it weren't so bloody informative. Thankfully, the manga-ka also knows when to break up the blabbing with the fighting. Also, skeleton babe nurse with a huge scythe? Yeah, that'll do it for most guys.

I think this volume sets the pace for the whole series. One fight concluding, some “stuff” to further the overall Shaman Fight, most likely to do with the Patch Tribe, another contestant introduced and a fight beginning, with Yoh obviously over-matched, Anna and Manta will make witty banter, comical asides or protestations of eternal belief in the ability of Yoh then the book will end just when things get good.

The title of this volume seems to be in the vein of the 70's camp horror movie The Abominable Dr. Phibes. I'm not sure if that is actually the case, but no other obvious link springs up. I guess I'll have to wait to see if Faust the 8^th is in the Fight because of someone he loved dying.

★★★☆½